Chapter 29 Section 28

Inside the station in the evening. A man in a white coat stepped out of the crowd in front of and behind the ticket gate and walked towards me.The paper bag he was holding had the "SOGO" trademark on it, and I raised my head to meet his gaze. The man smiled and walked to my side. "Are you Soma? I'm Matsuura, hello." "Hi, it's the first time I see you, please give me your advice." I bowed my head and saluted, unexpectedly calm in my heart, and calmly observed the other party. He was about the same age as me, between twenty-five and thirty, with a very kind face.He is not tall, his body is a little thin, and his shoulders are slack, so his suits are out of shape.

"Why don't you find a place to sit and talk?" "Well, there's a café over there." I went ahead and walked through the aisle with lockers on the side of the road.As I stepped out of the station building from the side, the cold wind slapped my cheeks.On the building across the road, the white walls were dyed orange by the setting sun.The sound of trams passing through the viaduct, the trees on the street with fallen leaves.After the signal light changed color, the car stopped, and many pedestrians on the sidewalk moved forward at the same time, most of them wore gray or black overcoats.I squinted at these vistas from the street, and pulled the red round handle towards me in front of the dark glass door of the Reano.

Black carpet, red sofa, we were led to a table inside the store, and Matsuura and I sat down face to face.Matsuura took off his coat, and the store turned down the volume and played classical music. "Hi, let me introduce myself again, my name is Matsuura." He handed over his business card, and I followed it with both hands respectfully, and reconfirmed that it said "Kihisa Matsuura, First Publishing Department of Shihe Publishing Co., Ltd.", yes, he is an employee of Shihe. "that--" Matsuura was about to speak, just in time for the waiter to come to order.

"Ah, let me think about it." "I'd like a cup of mixed coffee." I ordered without looking at the menu.After Matsuura also ordered the same coffee, the waiter left. "...I came here today not for anything else, but for the 'Mechanical Forest' you submitted to the Shihe Fantasy Novel Awards." As Matsuura said, he rummaged through the paper bag and took out a stack of manuscripts, which were the ones I submitted.My manuscript was suddenly placed in front of me, which made me quite shy. "To be honest, I am very happy to read this manuscript. I personally think it is a very interesting work. But unfortunately, the average level of submitted works this year is higher than in previous years, and one of them is unanimously praised by all the judges. The focus work, so the grand prize was snatched away. But according to the usual level, your work has the strength to win the grand prize."

Having said that, he lowered his voice. "To be honest, I don't really appreciate this year's winners. The award-winning works are indeed outstanding... When will it come next month, it will be published in print, and I will give you a copy after it is released.... But let me In terms of evaluation, as long as the idea that forms the core of the work is good, that person will not be able to write any good works in the future. On the contrary, you who wrote this work "Machine Forest" are more talented. I am here to inform These words." "Yes Yes……" I have talent... the editor at the publishing house says I have talent.is this real?

Now I can be happy, I really want to cheer, but at that time I was strangely calm, and there seemed to be some factors that could not be happy. "That... Specifically, the result is... For example, whether this manuscript is likely to be published..." I know that this question is shameless, but I still ask it boldly.Matsuura nodded with a smile. "Well. I think this work is worthy of publication. But if possible, I hope that if you have any follow-up works in the future, please show me them. "It's my job to put out valuable works, but we editors, more importantly, find talented writers and help them debut. Although the two jobs seem similar, there is a considerable difference. These manuscripts will Publish it as a book, and I'll make it happen. But is this your only book, or is it your debut as a writer?

"To that end, I would like to ask a few more things." "Excuse me." While answering, my heart finally jumped up. ...what I wrote is going to become a book?At this time, the waiter just brought coffee, which interrupted my excitement.There was a moment of silence on the scene, I quickly took a sip, moistened my throat, and the warm liquid passed through my throat.Matsuura put two spoonfuls of sugar, stirred it a few times, and took a sip. Then Matsuura opened up again. "Let me think about it... Where did I just say it? Ah, yes. Have you written anything before? For example, the works you participated in before."

"No. I wrote a few short stories when I was a student, but looking back, they were all clumsy, not even a practice work. This is my first serious creation." "Sure enough, you still like the fantasy department?" "yes." "Are you a mechanical engineering major?" "Yes. I like mechanics. But what I wrote when I was a student is different from this work." Because I was afraid of being looked down upon by the other party, I hastily added another sentence.Matsuura seemed satisfied and nodded. "After you graduated from college... now you don't have a job—"

"Well, I worked for a while after graduation... about five years ago, and finally for some reason, I resigned last summer." I feel a twinge of shame when I mention this. "And then—wrote this work?" "yes." "How long did it take to write this work?" "When I think about it, I actually wrote half of it while I was working, and after I quit — the second half only took three months." I understand that the other party wants to know the speed of my writing, so I added a few more sentences. "In addition--I used "Machine Forest" to participate in the recruitment of Ten Rivers in October last year, and then I started writing a new book. I count, it has been four months now. I originally It is planned to participate in the next selection, and it is estimated that a total of 700 manuscripts will be written, and about 400 manuscripts have been written now."

"Oh, I'm really looking forward to it. Please let me read it when you're done. By the way, what story are you writing? I hope to reveal a little bit if it's convenient." "That... the title of the book is tentatively determined to be." "Oh, very good!" There was already a smile on Matsuura's face.But his exaggerated response to the mere title of the book worried me. "The stage of the new work is in a house from the beginning to the end. Roughly speaking, fantasy also introduces some mysterious elements. Men and women traveling by car strayed into the thick fog, suddenly found a house in the mountains, and then ran into it. went in."

"Well, a common pattern in horror fiction." "Yes. But the key is how to advance the plot in the future." "I see. Please show me the finished manuscript later. How long will it take to finish? Let me think about it. You wrote 400 pages in four months. According to this calculation, there are still 300 pages left." , that is to say, three months later—it can be shown to me at the end of May." I didn't know what to say for a moment. "Yes... yes. I will try to finish it by the end of May." "I am looking forward." Matsuura smiled as he spoke. "Actually, you don't have to expect much—" "You can't say that, you can't back down from the beginning." "Right." Under the aura of the other party, I also nodded and pondered for a moment, not knowing how to speak the following words.In the end, he could only speak bluntly. "Well...I've been spending my previous savings recently. People have to live. If I can publish a book, I will be very happy. But if possible, when..." "This matter." Matsuura nodded vigorously. "The rest of your savings—" "No, it's not so urgent that we can't live. But according to the current state, it can only last until the first month of next year." "The future process is like this. You first complete the work in hand, and then revise this manuscript. If it is the fastest, it will be delivered in summer, and in autumn... the end of the year at the latest. It should be within the year." "Sure enough, it must be revised?" "Yes. But it doesn't have to change much." Matsuura said with a nonchalant smile, then flipped through the manuscript. "For example... Let me take a look, for example here. Although it is only a small problem, it needs to be changed here. This is a night scene, but there is such a description as 'the last quarter moon suddenly appears in the western sky'." "Oh." I nodded helplessly. "I think it might be misunderstood here... have you brought your pen?" I shook my head, Matsuura took out a mechanical pencil from the chest of his suit, and handed it to my eyes. "Please draw a picture of the 'Last Quarter Moon'." He handed over the original manuscript, and the margins on it were filled with messy pencil words, probably Matsuura's proofreading.Note lines are drawn from the questionable parts of the text, one of which points to several words "under the string?". I still couldn't understand the other party's intentions, so I drew a semicircular arc line protruding downwards in the blank space, and then when I wanted to draw the line that separates the moon from gaining or losing, I finally realized my own misunderstanding. "Ah, you mean the 'string' of 'lower string'—" "yes." Matsuura seemed satisfied and nodded vigorously. "A "string" is an "arc" that is compared to a bow. Only when the line is tied at both ends can it be called a "string". So your drawing of the string goes to the top, so what you draw is the "first quarter moon." It turned out to be the case.When I described the moon in the novel, I also considered the position of the sun and calculated the phase of the moon.But mistakes were made at the final stage of putting it into words. I looked at my original manuscript again to confirm how much proofreading information there was, and couldn't help but sigh.There are as many as ten spots on each sheet, and as few as two or three spots. "Then I'll return the manuscript to you. If you don't understand something in the proofreading information, please feel free to ask me directly. But I hope you can finish the manuscript in hand first. I think the deadline is the end of May, right?" He put pressure on me with a smile. "yes--" "Don't put on such a face, I'm looking forward to your new work."